Is a MiST worth it?

[Austin]

Thanks for that!

 

It seems like if you're an Atari ST enthusiast it may be worth it, but for everyone else they are probably better off sticking with a MiSTer. I suppose a ST core will eventually come to that too.

[Bill Loguidice]

I note there's also a SCART cable for the MIST, which would be ideal for my XRGB-mini. Does that give the same overall quality as the VGA connection?

[derFunkenstein]

VGA is just RGBHV (meaning dual sync for horizontal and vertical) in a D-sub connector. I can't imagine that at the low resolutions most of the emulated systems output would be adversely affected by a combined sync signal.

[R.Cade]

Most cores are on both- there are still a couple that are only on one or the other.

 

Mister has NeoGeo, Coco, and TI994a unique.

Mist has Atari ST, Apple IIe and maybe a couple others that support 15KHz where Mister does not on all cores. 

 

There is an ST core for Mister that is unfinished and doesn't work for me correctly (abandoned).

May are unfinished on both. I have both...

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by R.Cade

[Newsdee]

7 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

I note there's also a SCART cable for the MIST, which would be ideal for my XRGB-mini. Does that give the same overall quality as the VGA connection?

Yes. The XRGB-Mini can even accept 31khz over SCART, I've used it like that for a while.

 

It also allows converting 50hz (PAL) content into 60hz (NTSC) since the XRGB has a framebuffer.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Newsdee

[Newsdee]

5 hours ago, R.Cade said:

Apple IIe and maybe a couple others that support 15KHz where Mister does not on all cores. 

The Apple II core on MiSTer was just improved to support 15khz. Anothed unique core is a0486 (for DOS games of the ~386 era).

[newtmonkey]

I've been using my MiST a lot lately as an Atari ST.  It's a great core!  I've got the MiST hooked up to my 14" PVM over RGB, and it really brings back the memories of playing ST games with my buddy when we were kids.

 

The MiST has really saved my bacon actually... I've got an actual STE in which I had installed a gotek drive and it had worked flawlessly for 3-4 years, but just this week the joystick port has started to fail.  I could possibly replace it with a part from my nonworking STE, but the STE itself is so bulky (and unreliable in my experience anyway) that I'd rather just use the MiST at this point.

 

Getting rid of the STE (i.e. putting it away in my closet) actually allowed me to really streamline my 8-bit computer rack in my office, looks great now

 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by newtmonkey
typo

[newtmonkey]

A bit off topic, but a picture of the above setup!
 

Top row:

- Atari 7800

- 14" Sony PVM monitor

- MiST FPGA

- Famicom

 

Middle row:

- C64s (NTSC & PAL)

- Apple IIc

- ZX Spectrum OMNI 128K

 

Bottom row:

- MSX2

- Atari 800XL

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Bonus picture: Close up on Alien Breed running on MIST Amiga core over RGB SCART

(blurriness on right side is caused by taking the photo at an angle, which was the only way to get rid of glare and show off the nice scanlines 😁)

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by newtmonkey

[Keatah]

Software Emulation and FPGA rigs really are THE BEST ways to reduce clutter and increase reliability.

[Newsdee]

That's a great setup!

 

I got myself a couple of mechanical keyboards so I get close to old school ones.

 

There are options to run original keyboards over USB, but it gets stupid expensive very fast.